Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host - by the Power of God - thrust into hell, Satan and all the evil spirits, who prowl throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls.

Did I remember to put my envelope in the collection?

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Sunday, 14 September 2008

A Reason For Your Hope?

I'll give you one.We have a transitional deacon serving at our parish now, and if they were all like him, it would not matter that current seminarians are not as numerous as one might wish.He's quite, quite brilliant, (although that is the least of his attributes,) I only mention that because the first time I heard him preach Nietzsche and post-modernism and the rejection of Platonism all came up and you could see the eyes of the devout old ladies and the young people and even, I think, one of the priests, just utterly glaze over; and he very quickly found a level that is neither talking down to those who want more meat, nor indigestible to those who are only up to lighter fare (which probably applies to even the most erudite among us, at times....)And he is charming and kind and extremely good-looking, (in a very innocent, unthreatening way,) which shouldn't matter all that much but just does when a big part of your job is inspiring grade- and middle-schoolers.But yada, yada, yada, I digress-- what I meant to talk about, the "current reason for hope," is a wonderful series he's been writing in the parish bulletin, called "Perspectives on the Afterlife," (how seldom are we reminded, in other than rote prayers, of the need, the duty to pray for the dead? but that was last week. Again, I digress...)This week was "Heaven and the Liturgy," and contained these gems:One of the interesting aspects of the Christian ideaof heaven is the role it plays in informing and sustainingworship. The public worship of the church represents adrawing close to the threshold of heaven itself. Worshippersare encouraged to see themselves as peering throughthe portals of heaven, catching a glimpse of the worship ofheavenly places.The liturgy celebrates the notion of being caughtup in the worship of heaven, and the awesome sense ofmystery that is evoked by the sense of peering beyond thebounds of human vision.Worshippers have the opportunity of being mysticallytransported to the threshold of heaven. Being in a holyplace and about to participate in holy things, they on theone hand become aware of their finitude and sinfulness,and on the other gain a refreshing glimpse of the glory ofGod.The idea of liminality – that is, being on the thresholdof the sacred, peering into the forbidden heavenlyrealm – is represented architecturally and artistically inmany Greek orthodox churches, especially in the way inwhich the sanctuary and the altar are set apart from thepeople on account of a deep sense of the awesomeness ofthe mystery of God.As you observe the spatial separation between whereyou are sitting in our church and the sanctuary itself, haveyou noticed there is a deep sense of the awesomeness ofthe mystery of God that is revealed in the Eucharist and inthe Word that takes place there?[yes, yes, I know it'srhetorical, but answer it, do...] Spend time reflectingupon how the space and architecture of our church invitesus to peer into the heavenly realm in a way that further